Why encounters with a difficulty slope are bad

[Sepix]

I will probably get flamed for this but I am going to post this anyways.

I am noticing a certain trend in Final Fantasy Boss encounters, especially the higher difficulty ones like Coil or Extreme Modes. It seems like that every encounter is designed as a slope that gets harder and harder the lower a Boss HP gets. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that if it is used here but this encounter design is starting to be used for every single battle in this game by now and it is starting to get annoying.

The only method of increased difficulty i have seen used in fights is either:

A. Put more of something (Ifrit Nails, Adds in T10, etc)
B. Put more damage on something that was already there (Charge in T10 cause of soft enrage, bahamuts claw, akh Morne and so on)
C. Change the fight by 180 Degrees from one point to the next without any logical transition (T5, T9 etc).

I get that you want to make encounters easier to learn but at the same time nobody wants to play 80% of a fight just so they get a 10 second window at the actual mechanic that causes them trouble just to do it all over again. Can't we have encounters that actually introduce you with the full fight mechanics right from the start or at least with 2 alternating phases? Can we please have some difficulty with the kind of sidejobs, or things to do beside the main role in the party throughout fights instead of just getting more of stuff and stronger stuff thrown at us?

TLDR;

Please stop your old Square Enix Pattern that you discovered in FFX for the first time (Seymoure anyone?) and try to design more interesting encounters instead of just piling on more of already existing things to simulate non existing difficulty.

Good Design:

T1, T4
Garuda Ex, Shiva Ex, Levi Ex, Mog Ex, Odin
T7, T8

Bad Design:

T2, T6,
Ifrit Ex
Pretty much every fight in FcoB

Horrible Design:

T5, T9

[RiceisNice]

Things like these vary by player to play. The fights I don't legitimately enjoy are ones like Odin, Mog EX and Ifrit EX All they do is the same thing over and over, just with more of the same things tossed in. Ones like Tidus EX or FCoB have some sort of circumstance changing to vary your awareness and strategy.

And I also dislike an aspect of an otherwise good fight, like Levi ex. Ifrit EX also has the same problem, fights like these get progressively harder when the overall ilvl of the party/echo increases. I've had close calls where the tanks were pushing ifrit during the third set of nails, or Levi getting pushed too soon as the spumes die.

[kyuven]

I disagree with a lot of this. I like how the difficulty ramps up slowly as the fight goes on. It gives time for the fight to build momentum and excitement. Just throwing everything at you at once actually makes the learning curve WORSE since you go in and are expected to know 8 different things right off the bat, rather than being given the opportunity to slowly master each mechanic before a new one is thrown at you.
Each fight starts you off with one mechanic, then transitions into another and another, with "breaks" in the action as you go along. By the end you have a very intense fight.
T5 and T9 are meant to be tests of what you've learned up to that point, so they're intentionally hard with different logic in each phase for that very reason.
And you listed Mog EX under good design...
No, just no. That's a fight that gets HARDER with better gear. HARDER with more echo. It's a fight that nowadays gates certain classes for having TOO much DPS. That's not a fun challenge. It's like the fight is a kindergarten playground they expect a full grown adult to climb through. Sure you can "stifle your DPS" but if it's not always that easy. I've seen BLM's blow an entire run because they crit.
t4 has the opposite problem, not being enough of a challenge anymore that it actually IS a glorified add phase. The format is even nearly identical to the trash in t7! Hell a BETTER version is used for t11's trash!
I'll agree about Levi, Shiva, Garuda, and Odin, though.

[radioactive_lego]

I agree.

Garuda EX is pretty much the perfect fight.
- When average ILVLs were in the mid to lower 90's, difficulty was perfect.
- There was more than one way to complete the challenge.
- Two PLD? Two WHM? No problem. You never fealt like you had to have class diversity; people brought what they wanted.

[MeiUshu]

T5 is a nightmare but not necesseraly by design more like beacuse of people, cant say there are bad design, even for DPS that needs to tone down their DPS is a challenge to know when to use what and when to go full force out and when not, I dont consider that a bad design....overall is nicely done, with one exception maybe for met at least, Titan EX, this is probably something that should be revised as many players find it difficult if not impossible to pass not because they cant or dont know how or what not but because of latency, then again doesnt make it a *bad* design that is probably the only fight I would be more cautious about for the rest, like in everybody for each *bad* there is equally someone that will find it *good* and the other way around.

Mei

[FranSeara]

For me, I hate T5. I love Shiva Ex. T5 in my eyes is a broken mess (I've cleared it so be still....) T5 is trollsville from the devs. Much of the fight makes very little sense to ME. Invisiable land mines??? that follow you!?!? Silly!! I can stand T7, it makes perfect sense to ME. T6 is kinda of silly with its one hit kill stuff going on. Shiva Ex is my fav fight in the game, its one the few fights I feel LAG dosn't play such a big issue. Anything Titan is Laggy.

[Ibi]

TLDR;

Please stop your old Square Enix Pattern that you discovered in FFX for the first time (Seymoure anyone?) and try to design more interesting encounters instead of just piling on more of already existing things to simulate non existing difficulty.

Good Design:

T1, T4
Garuda Ex, Shiva Ex, Levi Ex, Mog Ex, Odin
T7, T8

T7 and T8 both "just pil[e] on more of already existing things to simulate non existing difficulty":

T7 adds Cursed Shriek, the DoT/exploding floor mechanic, Venomous Tail, and Petrifaction as the fight goes on.
T8 adds land mines, Brain Jack, Ballistic Missile, and Allagan Field as the fight goes on.

Given your own criteria, I'm not clear on what makes you think those are good fights, versus T6 or Final Coil.

[Turin]

C. Change the fight by 180 Degrees from one point to the next without any logical transition (T5, T9 etc).

...

Horrible Design:

T5, T9

Without any logical transition? The flow of these fights are fantastic, phase to phase. These fights are epic. They take organization. It feels like an awesome accomplishment when you finally beat it. By far, these are the best designed encounters in the game. They play a part as the "final boss". It wouldn't be good if every single fight was like it, though. I think they are appropriately designed.

[AdamFyi]

I'm sure as hell that I don't want to deal with conflagrations during twisters and divebombs during heavensfall. Anyway, I personally think that the encounters are pretty well-designed. The final boss of each coil were intentionally designed that way to test how well each player can adapt to the ever-changing battle till the enemy falls.

Though, it would be nice if you could have provided some of your own ideas into the mix and elaborated your reasoning why the encounters you've listed are 'good' or 'bad'. I can't read your mind. I don't think you've made clear on what makes a good fight.

[DoctorPepper]

I don't agree with this, I enjoy the progressive difficulty of the fights, it keeps people from beating it too quickly. Some might get frustrated by wiping I suppose but personally I enjoy it as long as I'm seeing progression. Nael just wouldn't be as much of a badass if he wasn't so hard to beat.

To me it seems like what you're asking for is a lack of mechanics, the only way you can ensure a fight doesn't become progressively more difficult is to reduce the number of them taking place.

I hate the nerfs to fights in this game and don't want it to get easier because it takes some of the fun out of it for me. At the end of the day they tend to make everything easier anyways.